


Tension

by Celandine



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Drama, Ficlet, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-04-21
Updated: 2010-04-21
Packaged: 2017-10-12 15:23:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/126335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Celandine/pseuds/Celandine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Responsibility weighs heavily sometimes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tension

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Flora (florahart)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/florahart/gifts).



Blood drips everywhere, staining what is left of the captain's uniform. Dr. McCoy leans over him, his face stiff with concentration, his hands flying as he snaps out orders that send the nurses scurrying. He will save the captain's life today. Again.

* * *

  
Below on the planet's surface the swirling clouds are white and innocent, masking the devastation that wracks the surface. The away team has been infected by the disease they came to alleviate, and cannot return to the ship yet lest they bring it with them. Captain Kirk takes three deep breaths before he gives the order that may condemn his chief medical officer and over a dozen crew to their deaths. A Klingon attack waits for no one's convenience.

* * *

  
His patient is mended to the best of his abilities, asleep now rather than unconscious. McCoy strips off his gloves and gown and sinks wearily into a chair, instructing Nurse Chapel that he is not to be disturbed except in dire emergency. He takes Kirk's limp hand and holds it as the door slides shut behind her, no longer the doctor but just Leonard, waiting for his lover to wake.

* * *

  
Nothing disturbs his concentration as they pursue the enemy. It is only after their success, when the _Enterprise_ is returning to the Mintaka system, that he has nightmares. By the time they reach it Kirk is haggard with lack of sleep. As captain, he knows he made the right decision, but if his beloved Bones is dead, he's not sure if he'll ever quite forgive himself.

* * *

  
Jim wakes. Leonard has survived. On these two occasions, the ambiguity of their respective positions – doctor and patient, captain and CMO, friends, lovers – has not harmed either of them.

Perhaps one day, though, it will.

**Author's Note:**

> For florahart, who wanted Kirk/McCoy, ambiguity.


End file.
